Partnerships

Bumble CEO and Serena Williams

Star athlete Serena Williams is making her next move as Bumble’s global advisor. The company announced that its new ad campaign featuring the award-winning tennis champion will debut during this year’s Super Bowl.

The theme of the campaign is in line with Bumble’s female-friendly focus, called “The Ball is in Her Court.” It will feature Williams making the first move in every aspect of life: dating, friendship, and business, according to the release, according to AdWeek.

Partnering with a high-profile, empowered female is a consistent reflection of the Bumble brand. In its press release, Bumble stated that Williams’ role will include enforcing Bumble’s “mission to end misogyny and empower women around the world.”

Bumble has made experiential marketing a core part of its strategy to expand its user base. Last year, the company launched a series of roving pop-up spaces that debuted in New York City and has since made stops in London, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. Earlier this year, Bumble teamed up with HBO on a "Stay Home To The Movies" activation set in a New York City brownstone that aimed to recreate the experience of a romantic night in.

Bumble’s latest move to bring the dating experience offline is a partnership with Marriott International's Moxy Hotels. Certain Moxy locations will host "BumbleSpot #attheMoxy” events where Bumble users can bring their connections from the digital sphere to real life. BumbleSpots are places that have been verified by Bumble as inclusive environments in which to meet connections from Bumble’s dating, friendship and professional networking services.

“At Bumble, we’re more than just a dating app – we’re a mission-driven platform that connects people across the most important relationships in their lives in love, friendship and business. We’ve worked so hard to cultivate a safe and empowering community online and we’re always looking for opportunities to help our users bring those connections to life,” said Andee Olson, director of partnerships at Bumble. “The idea for BumbleSpot is to create a network of physical locations across the US and Canada that support our mission to end misogyny and empower women in their relationships across all aspects of life.”

Chappy, a dating app for gay and bisexual men, has announced a new partnership with GLAAD. As of November 2018, every chat initiated by Chappy users will raise money for GLAAD’S work to accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ community through an initiative called “Chats For Charity.”

“Chats For Charity” is designed to unite and mobilize the LGBTQ community around a common interest, to support global LGBTQ voices, and to influence the community to be tolerant, respectful, inclusive and non-discriminatory.

“Every time Chappy users chat and connect with each other, they will be supporting GLAAD’s culture-changing LGBTQ work,” said Zeke Stokes, vice president of programs at GLAAD. “Chappy is making a powerful commitment to LGBTQ acceptance and we are proud to partner with them on this initiative as well as their broader work to build community.”

Image: BFA.com/Zach Hilty

Bumble announced the launch of its female-friendly app in India with a celebrity dinner at the Gramercy Hotel in New York.

CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd joined Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, who just partnered with Bumble to bring the app to her home country. They hosted a dinner for women of Indian heritage who are at the top of their respective fields to celebrate the launch.

According to Forbes who reported on the event, attendees included Vanity Fair’s Radhika Jones, Hillary Clinton’s former political staffer Huma Abedin, Teen Vogue’s Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Saks Fifth Avenue’s Roopal Patel, fashion designer Anita Dongre, and Girls Who Code co-founder Reshma Saujani. The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi was also in attendance.

Image: OkCupid

Dating experts have long cautioned against discussing controversial subjects like politics on the first date, but a new partnership between OkCupid and the American Civil Liberties Union puts politics front and center in honor of Pride Month.

The dating service is introducing an ACLU #RightToLove profile badge to help users meet other members who support the non-profit. The badge will be displayed on the profile of every OkCupid user who publicly responds “yes” to the question “Do you support the ACLU?” For every user who receives the badge, OkCupid will donate $1 towards the ACLU (up to $50,000).

According to an OkCupid blog post, ninety percent of users who answered the question said yes — one of the highest agreement percentages across all of OkCupid’s iconic questions.

Snap Interactive, a leading provider of live video social networking applications, is boldly going where dating sites haven’t gone before. The company is closing out 2017 with a multipoint plan to capitalize on the growth potential and technological capabilities of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

SNAP has quickly made strides to get the new initiative underway via internal development, partnerships, and investments.

Upon the initial announcement of the Blockchain Platform in early November, the company appointed blockchain expert and former MySpace CEO Mike Jones to the Board of Directors. Jones is also the inaugural member of SNAP’s new Blockchain Advisory Board, followed by Wall Street crypto expert and venture capital veteran Lou Kerner later in the month.